The Nationals swept the Giants last weekend, their first series sweep in two years, and what made it even better was that first-round pick Dylan Crews was in attendance after signing his contract, taking BP and shagging some flies with the MLB team as he begins his pro career.
GM Mike Rizzo, who joins the Junkies every Wednesday as presented by MainStreet Bank, thought it was a “great weekend overall with a lot of excitement and buzz,” and is a big fan of Crews so far.
“He’s a terrific young guy, brought up the right way, and his parents are great. We met them all, spent two days with them all at Nats Park, and it was great,” Rizzo told JP and Bish Wednesday. “We got a good player who carries himself like a pro already. He has great character and he’s a winner; he’s won every award he can and is probably the most decorated player in NCAA history.”
Crews’ presser ended with him and Rizzo smiling with cigars, something Rizzo said he thought was a good idea after seeing Crews with a stogie following LSU’s National Championship victory.
“He said he dabbles,” Rizzo laughed. “We didn’t smoke them together, maybe we will someday, but that seemed like a good way to end it.”
And then out on the field, Crews took some regular BP and did some outfield work, which the MLB team was supportive of – but some of that BP work wasn’t your run-of-the-mill coach throws to hitter style.
“BP has changed a little – we take typical practice at times, but we also will have a day where we have a velocity machine or a slider machine on the field,” Rizzo said. “You can set this machine to throw any shape of pitch you want – so if a righty is having trouble with a sweeper from righties, you can set it for something like that. It’s often during early work or in the cages underneath where fans can’t see it, but technology has allowed us to do these things now.”
Related
The Nationals employ both lefty and righty throwing BP pitchers – either on the coaching staff or someone specializing in that job – and still do the regular work as part of routines, but JP also referenced a WaPo article by Jesse Dougherty about V-Flex screens that teams are now using as part of that as well.
“It’s a new, cutting-edge way to get a feel for that day’s starter,” Rizzo said. “There are other things you can plug into the computer, and the pitching machine will spit out different trajectories and spin rates, too. We take a lot of BP underneath, and our hitting coaches pretty much live in that cage.”
One of the guys all the work has helped is C.J. Abrams, who has moved up to the leadoff spot and is hitting .342 in July entering Wednesday’s afternoon game after making some mechanical tweaks with hitting coaches Darnell Coles and Pat Roessler.
“Darnell and Pat and Davey (Martinez) got a hold of him and tweaked his swing a little; we thought he had too much of a launch angle type of swing, so we got him evened out to hit that back-spinning line drive to the gaps,” Rizzo said. “Davey is a big proponent of gap-to-gap, and when a mistake is made inside, you can always turn and burn and launch to the pull side. But he got a little rhythm and swagger batting leadoff, and now he’s batting more often and sees more pitches, and I think all of that has helped him figure out things to keep him more consistent.”
Abrams was streaky even when hitting ninth, so it wasn’t a confidence issue at all, Rizzo doesn’t think – “he has plenty of that” – but now, he has a new outlook and a good rhythm and is making the most of it.
“The tweak of his swing has made him a little more consistent, and he sees the ball longer out of the pitcher’ hand and sees better counts. The key for all of our hitters is stay in the strike zone, get in hitters’ counts, and be ready to launch your A-swing when you get that pitch in the zone,” Rizzo said. “C.J.’s been on fire for us, and really the engine that kick-starts our offense. He’s also playing good defense and stealing bases, and becoming the dynamic player we hoped he’d become. Now it’s about keeping that consistency long-term.”
Take a listen to Rizzo’s entire segment above, presented by MainStreet Bank!
Mike Rizzo's appearance with the Sports Junkies is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office."
Follow The Sports Junkies on Twitter: @moneymetalcakes, @ebjunkies, @lurchbish, @glassjoejp, @drabtshirt, & @JunksRadio
Keep up with 106.7 The Fan via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Keep up with 980 The Team via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram